Air freshener for vehicles

ABSTRACT

An air freshener for vehicles including a main body for holding a container for volatile substances and a foldable clip which can be placed in a substantially perpendicular position with respect to the main body. The foldable clip is rotatable with respect to the main body. The clip is always connected with the main body, so that it is sold with it occupying a reduced space in the package. The clip can be rotated to be adapted to any kind of ventilation grids.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a 35 U.S.C. §§ 371 national phase conversionof PCT/EP2016/079101, filed Nov. 29, 2016, which claims priority toEuropean Patent Application No. 15198023.2, filed Dec. 4, 2015, theentire contents of both applications being incorporated herein byreference. The PCT International Application was published in theEnglish language.

The present invention refers to an air freshener for vehicles, whichcomprises a clip for its attached to a ventilation grid of the vehicle.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Air fresheners for vehicles to be mounted on the ventilation grid of thedashboard are well known and they are having a big commercial success.

The air fresheners for vehicles always comprise a clip for theirattached to the ventilation grid of the vehicle and this clip extends ina perpendicular direction from the main body of the air freshener.

Generally, the main body and the clip of the air freshener are soldseparately, i.e. not assembled, and the user assembles them before itsfirst use. This for several reasons:

-   -   Keep the packaging as flat as possible and then reduce overall        size of the goods during transportation and on the shelf.    -   Allow to the user to assemble the clip with a different        orientation (vertical/horizontal) depending of the orientation        of the grid of the vehicle.

The fact the clip is sold separated from the main body can have severaldrawbacks:

The user can lose the clip, or the user could not notice of its presencein the packaging, so that the clip is discarded with the packaging,resulting in the impossibility to use of the air freshener on theventilation grid of the vehicle.

Furthermore, the user can assemble the clip incorrectly.

It is known an air freshener with a preassembled clip that is foldedbefore its first use, and the user has rotated it to place it in theperpendicular direction. However, the main aim of this solution is notto solve the issue above, but to activate the refill, even though thissolution solves the issue above. Nevertheless, this kind of airfresheners does not allow to the user to select the orientation of theclip.

Therefore, there is still the need of an air freshener for vehicles, inwhich the foldable clip allows the positioning of the device on bothvertical and horizontal ventilation grids of the vehicles.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

With the air freshener of the invention said drawbacks can be solved,presenting other advantages that will be described hereinafter.

The air freshener for vehicles according to the present inventioncomprises a main body for holding a container for volatile substancesand a foldable clip which can be placed in a substantially perpendicularposition with respect to the main body, and it is characterized in thatsaid foldable is rotatable with respect to the main body.

Thanks to these features, the clip is always connected with the mainbody, so that it is sold with it occupying a reduced space in thepackage. Furthermore, the clip can be rotated to be adapted to any kindof ventilation grids.

Preferably, said main body comprises a base including a pincomplementary with a groove in the clip, so that when the clip is placedin said substantially perpendicular position, said pin is housed insidesaid groove. This pin prevents the clip to be detached from thisposition.

Furthermore, said clip can also comprise a protrusion complementary witha hole in the base, so that when the clip is placed in saidsubstantially perpendicular position, said protrusion is housed insidesaid hole. This protrusion provides a more precise guiding and a highermechanical resistance of the clip/base once assembled.

Advantageously, said clip comprises a rim, and said groove can be placedin said rim, and said rim preferably comprises a rod defining a hinge,said rod being circumscribed to a circle defined by the rim.

Furthermore, said base preferably comprises a plurality of retainers,which engage with the rim of the clip when the clip is placed in saidsubstantially perpendicular position.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a better comprehension of what has been disclosed, some drawings areattached in which, diagrammatically and only as a non-limitativeexample, a practical embodiment is shown.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the air freshener of the presentinvention, according to a first embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the air freshener of the presentinvention, according to a second embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the second embodiment of the airfreshener according to the invention in its use position;

FIG. 4 is a lateral view of the clip of the air freshener for vehiclesaccording to the present invention; and

FIG. 5 is a rear view of the clip of the air freshener for vehiclesaccording to the present invention, showing the rim and rod defining thehinge.

DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The air freshener for vehicles according to the present inventioncomprises a main body 1, usually substantially flat, an according to theshown embodiment with a disk shape.

This main body 1 holds a container for volatile substances, which is notshown in the drawings.

The air freshener also comprises a clip 2 for fixing the air freshenerto a ventilation grid of a vehicle. This clip 2 is foldable and ismounted to the main body 1 by a rod 10 defining a hinge, this hingebeing also defined by a housing for said rod 10. The clip 2 can beplaced in a use position, in which the clip 2 is substantiallyperpendicular with respect to the main body 1, as shown in FIG. 3, andthe clip 2 is preferably placed in a base 3 of the main body 1.

Furthermore, the clip 2 comprises a rim 8, which in the use position isin contact with the base 3 and retained by a plurality of retainers 9 ofthe base 3. Said rod 10 defining the hinge is preferably placed in therim 8 and said rod 10 being placed inside a circle defined by the rim 8,as shown in FIG. 5.

Therefore, the air freshener according to the invention is sold with theclip 2 attached to the main body 1 and the clip 2 can be rotated to beadapted to the (horizontal or vertical) grid of the vehicle.

In FIGS. 2 and 3 a second embodiment of the air freshener according tothe invention is shown. For simplicity reasons, the same elements thanin the first embodiment are designed by the same numeral references, andthese elements will not be described again.

According to this second embodiment, the base 3 comprises a pin 4, whichis complementary with a groove 5 of the clip 2, said groove 5 beingplaced in the rim 8 of said clip 2. This pin 4 prevents the clip 2 to bedetached or rotated from its use position.

In this case, the clip 2 can also comprise a protrusion 6 at the centerdefined by the rim 8, which in the use position of the clip 2 is housedinside a complementary hole 7. This protrusion 6 provides a more preciseguiding and a higher mechanical resistance of the clip 2.

The use of the air freshener according to the invention is easier thanthe prior art air fresheners. The user just rotates the clip 2 to itsuse position, and he/she rotates the clip 2 to the desired orientation,according to the ventilation grid of the vehicle.

Even though reference is made to a specific embodiment of the invention,it is clear for a person skilled in the art that the disclosed airfreshener is susceptible of variations and modifications, and that allthe details cited can be substituted by other technically equivalentones, without departing from the scope of protection defined by theattached claims.

The invention claimed is:
 1. An air freshener for vehicles, the airfreshener comprising: a main body configured to hold a container forvolatile substances, the main body comprising: a base including a pin; afoldable clip configured to be placed in a substantially perpendicularposition with respect to the main body, said foldable clip comprising arim and having a groove complementary with the pin of the base, whereinsaid foldable clip is rotatable with respect to the main body, and whensaid foldable clip is placed in the substantially perpendicularposition, said pin is housed inside said groove and prevents detachmentof the clip, wherein said base comprises a plurality of retainers thatengage with the rim of the foldable clip and retain the foldable clipwhen the foldable clip is placed in the substantially perpendicularposition, wherein said foldable clip comprises a protrusioncomplimentary with a hole in the base, wherein the protrusion guides thefoldable clip when the foldable clip is placed in said substantiallyperpendicular position by said protrusion being housed inside said hole,and said protrusion provides higher mechanical resistance to the clipwhen said protrusion is inside said hole.
 2. The air freshener forvehicles according to claim 1, wherein said groove is placed in saidrim.
 3. The air freshener for vehicles according to claim 1, whereinsaid rim comprises a rod forming a hinge with the base.
 4. The airfreshener for vehicles according to claim 3, wherein said rod is placedinside a circle defined by the rim.
 5. The air freshener for vehiclesaccording to claim 1, wherein the rim has a bottom facing the base whenthe foldable clip is in the substantially perpendicular position, andwherein the plurality of retainers is positioned such that when thefoldable clip is in the substantially perpendicular position a firstretainer of the plurality of retainers engages a first portion of therim, and a second retainer of the plurality of retainers engages asecond portion of the rim offset at least 90 degrees along acircumference of the bottom of the rim from the first portion of therim.